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POLITICO 44

After an unusual day-long negotiating session, President Barack Obama and top Democratic congressional leaders said late Wednesday that they were making “significant progress” towards reconciling the House and Senate health care reform bills.

Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement at the close of more than eight hours of White House talks – by far the most significant, high-level negotiations undertaken during the yearlong push for health care reform.

“Today we made significant progress in bridging the remaining gaps between the two health insurance reform bills,” according to the statement. “We’re encouraged and energized, and we’re resolved to deliver reform legislation that provides more stability and security for those with insurance, extends coverage to those who don’t have coverage, and lowers costs for families, businesses, and governments."

The talks were scheduled to continue Thursday, according to a House Democratic aide.

Wednesday’s session lasted longer than White House or congressional aides had initially anticipated, stretching from the morning until about 6:45 p.m. Negotiations broke for the night with no official agreements to announce.

But the marathon session signaled that House and Senate leaders — with the president in the room for much of the day — were far closer to resolution on the issues that have divided the two chambers for months.

“We’re moving along,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told POLITICO during a break, as she rushed back to the Capitol for several votes.

In reality, the session at the White House was a de facto conference committee, with House and Senate leaders meeting privately to hash out differences in the bill. Pelosi and Reid have been heavily criticized by Republicans for circumventing the normal conference committee process, even though much of the work under that structure also takes place behind closed doors.

Those involved in the talks sought to keep details of their progress under wraps. The negotiations delved into the Senate’s controversial tax on expensive insurance plans, which unions and House members strongly oppose, and, for a while Wednesday, labor leaders huddled privately with top administration aides.

Boosting the Medicare payroll tax – either by increasing the rate or extending it to unearned income – is still a live option, according to sources familiar with the talks.

The tax would open the door to significantly more revenues, according to Joint Committee on Taxation. That infusion of cash could help offset the revenue lost by raising the threshold at which the tax on expensive insurance plans would kick in to make it more palatable to unions. Democrats are also looking to increase the amount of subsidies for lower-income individuals to purchase insurance.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) cautioned earlier Wednesday against conclusions that a deal was at hand on the tax package or any other aspect of the legislation.

“I’m not going to go into specifics because it’s a whole package, and we have to reach agreement on the whole package,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer said there is an understanding in the room about how angry House members are over the inclusion of a tax on high-end insurance plans, but that was not the sole focus of the meeting.

“We’ve been talking about the whole gamut of issues that are raised by differences by the Senate and the House, the whole gamut,” he said.

The daylong negotiations with the president’s participation underscored the pressure on the White House to wrap up the bill. Issues continue to pile up on the president’s agenda — he cycled in and out of the room in part to deal with the crisis in Haiti. And Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts, which has put the 60th Democratic vote in the Senate at risk, has injected only more urgency into the push.

Either Politico is very uninformed or they're engaging in wishful thinking. The news from everyone else is that these talks are not going well. And why would they? You get three self-centered marxist egomaniacs in a room and expect them to come to an agreement. Good luck with that one. But you have to ask what is really going on here. No one in the public, none of the Republican legislators, and most of the Democratic legislators have no say in what goes on with this bill. Instead a small group of 13 leftists get together behind closed doors to write legislation to take over one-sixth of the economy. This is not a democracy, this is not a republic, this is a totalitarian dictatorship. No wonder these people are losing everywhere that people have a free choice in the matter.

How about top Obama and Congressional Leaders take a little time out to appropriate a little time for the relief effort of our catastrophy hit neighbors in Haiti? I think their need for health care is a little more urgent.

I wish the democrats had just focused intensively on getting a public insurance option, open to all. That was all that was ever really necessary, that the subsidy for low income people to buy into it. All the complexity and other stuff, just makes it less likely to ever pass.

I know that now, the democrats are desparate to pass ANY bill, no matter how screwed up, just so they can have some accomplishment to point to for the 2010 elections. This may wind up being worse than nothing.

Single payer national health care works in every nation where it is established. And for you rich people, don't worry, you can still go to private doctors all over the world for whatever deluxe medical care you need or want, such as cosmetic surgery, etc.

Personal note: what I myself need is access to a rehab center for the treatment of Politico addiction, and internet blogging in general. Sometimes I spend 2 or 3 hours reading and posting. And I am retired and live on a golf course in sunny California, for heaven's sake. I could walk out my back yard and tee off. What is becoming of me? I need help. (they say that's the first step, recognizing that you have a problem)

We spend 16% of our GDP on healthcare, which is mediocre, and have poorer health profiles overall than the nations with single payer. And all of those countries are democracies, so if they didn't like their system, they could vote to change it. So, please spare me the horror stories about how bad the care is in England or Japan or Canada.

Other than that, I hope the democrats sit in their offices and don't enact another piece of legislation for the entire balance of this congress. No cap and trade. No amnesty for illegals. Let Obama have fun being president and then run somebody like Romney in 2012, and let America get back to work.

How about top Obama and Congressional Leaders take a little time out to appropriate a little time for the relief effort of our catastrophy hit neighbors in Haiti? I think their need for health care is a little more urgent.

Really..........? It took Bush 6 days to even know that a flood had happened in New Orleans......!!

Remember.........? He had to go to a birthday party in AZ...........!!!

Just gotta keep pushing for a deal huh ?? I think it really means Obama and all the Democrats will just keep pushing this health care bill it up our butts, no matter how much objection there is by ANYONE. With unemployment going higher and more and more division within this country, thanks to Democrats ramming legislation through that the majority of citizens DO NOT WANT, its just plain to see that the Obama " Hope and Change" savior is a fraud. The Democrats will just not be able to make up enough phony votes to put themselves back in charge come next November. The American taxpayer will NOT forget this !! EVERY one of you guys had better update your resumes NOW !!